The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1887-10-13
FOR AMATEURS ONLY.
Pretty Mrs. bearing was dull.

Pretty Mrs. bearing was dull.
She possessed a little house at Chel-
sea, two servants to look after, enough
pocket-moncy to buy everything suit
able for the wife Of bankers clerk,
a beautiful face, to which the brown
hair, brushed straight from the brows,
gave look of intelligence and purity.
a commonplace husband absentall day,
idle hands. and a restless mind-jnst
the state of things perceiving which
the father of political actresses and
society gossip limps in and suggests
employment.
Daughter Of poor curate, who.
when she was II, joyfully mar
ried her, almost without con-
sulting her. to young man with
expectations" Marion bearing had
spent live years of her life without any
society but that of somewhat unat-
tractiye husband, who, having sown
what wild oats he could afford between
tn. ages Of Is and Is, settled down to
matrimony at 80 without notion that
the beautiful child he married would
would ever require any excitement but
that of ordering his dinners. mendi ng
his clothes, and listening to his sage
OBSCURE when he returned from the
cityin the evening.
Women are SO different from men, Of
course, and household duties must nec-
essarily be more attractive to them than
any other sort of occupation. Tom
bearings mother and sisters and aunts,
Mt least. had always been perfectly salts
fed with the charms of the domestic CIR
Gle, and he himself ut tiye-and-thirty asked
nothing better than to doze and proze
by the fire at night to a beautiful bored
woman of two-and-twenty.
But now. to his surprise and vexation,
his wife had grown dull and discomfort
ed, had left off talking, even left off
listening. and at last one memorable
night had electrified him by bursting
into passionate entreatics to be allowed
to Ego on the stage"
Tom bearing was naturally extreme
" shocked at such request. His no
tons Of actresses were formed from a
casual acquaintance with chorus girl
in a comic opera company whom he had
met in the country, and had taken to
supper; from anecdotes concerning the
eccentricitics of historical tragediennes;
and from accounts in the papers headed
IAN Actress in Trouble, detailing how
ladies with many aliases were taken up
by the police for driving hansomcabs
without a license and other cratic pro-
ceedings.
But her husbands righteous indig-
nation had little effect on Marion Dear
ing; she pinned for excitement. for en-
ployment, and thought in her innocence
it was the rcpressed aspirations of an
artist nature that stirred her soul. She
was sure she could act extremely wellif
she tried, and this belief was due to no
particular conceit. being shared by hui
mainly at large.
She took to moping and grew limp
and listless; worse. she left off laughing
at her husbands ponderous jests, and
even forgot what vegetables he prefer
red for his dinner.
Then across the darkened domestic
horizon shone ray of light in the sng-
gestion ofa city friend of bearing, a
man highly thought of by tho latter
from the reputation he had of .going
into really good society"
.'Wife dull and stage-struck, and you
naturally object to her becoming an
actress" said this worthy; "why not
let her play with amateurs?"
To the question, WAS it respectablee'
Mr.. Carewe drew himself up.
1t was not Only respectable-it was
fashionable. His own sister, Mrs. Car
ington, wife of the well-known @. G.,
spent all her leisure in playing for
charities, and the set she moved in was
most exclusive.
In my club, the Macreadys, we are in
want of ladies'" MIR. Carewe continued.
1--WE don't care to engage professional
actresses, you see-it's expensive, and
also our lady amateurs who kindly play
for us don't always care about meeting
them. Some awful.y nice girls play
for us, and of course their mothers and
brothers are very particular about the
people they meet. The Hon. Mrs.
Mordaunt plays good deal with us, and
Lady Burnside-very nice woman;
am sure Mrs. bearing would like them
immensely"
Under Mrs. Carington's indulgent
wing, therefore pretty Mrs. bearing
was first introduced to the members
of the Macready Club and the amateur
ladies kindly assisting them.
1--WE are SO glad to have you," said
the Hon. Mrs. Mordaunt magnificent.
looking creature, with husband ap.
parently a Wandering Jew by pro.
fession, from the distant and varied
points of the compass at which he wa.
periodically sighted; 1.-THE lady who
was going to play your part has to &c
to a ball that night, and she couldn't
think of any one to take her place."
s.Some of the gentlemen wanted tt
engage a professional actress" sale
Mrs. Darlington. "But I'm very glad
they have not, as think it's much bet
ter to keep out the professional element
Miss Brownjohn's mother, for instance
Would never allow her daughter. K
play except with amateurs; she is *
particular. Let me introduce you t
Capt. Vernon, Mrs. bearing"
The last-namcd gentleman was . I'm.
looking man, no longer in his frs
youth. = Hearing his name
he turned to bestow long stare Of in
solent appreciation at the beautiful new
conner; he was the lady-killer par excel
lence of the amateur world, and ver1
highly esteemed among tho middle-clas
hours who shone therein on account o
the high connections Of which he some
times vaguely boosted, as we'll as b.
reason of the low morality, concernin.
.,,h:ol, hn .roc - n,so nx,,l;o:t